Cardiff Capers

I am ashamed to admit, with a surname like Evans, I have never been to Cardiff. However I put that to rights in grand style this weekend with a 2 day special deal at the St David’s Hotel and Spa in Cardiff Bay. Very modern hotel and good location…only 10 minutes drive from the city centre…and Cardiff is after all, only 70 miles from Marlborough, straight down the M4.

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A bit wet and blustery on Saturday so into the city centre to explore…cockles demolished at the wet fish stall at the long standing Indoor Market, followed by locally baked fresh Welsh cakes…then a pint of Brains dark and a glance at the Milennium Stadium followed by a very interesting few hours spent in the museum and art gallery…a few of my favourite Pre Raphaelite inspired pictures are on view here including gems by Dyce, Burne Jones and Sandys. Sunday was dry and so to Castle Coch just outside of Cardiff – sadly closed in January for renovation but managed a sneak peek at the fairytale castle having made the steep climb. Bet there are dragons hiding here! On to St Fagans, a fabulous collection of buildings gathered and moved stone by stone from all over Wales and spent many hours wandering the church, chapel, mill, farm, various houses, gardens, recreated shops, schoolroom and castle. Superb concert at St David’s Concert Hall featuring ten tenors (most of them Welsh) and highlights for me included ‘Maria’ from West Side Story…much opera which I recognised but couldn’t name and The Three Welsh Tenors singing ‘You’ll never walk alone’. Grand finale was O sole Mio and Nessun Dorma sung by all ten of them, led by Dennis O’Neill and the power in those male voices in that auditorium sent shivers down my spine! Oh and I’ll be back to Cardiff in a few weeks – bought tickets for Wales v Scotland on 12 February. Bring it on!